Fandoms

A fandom? How about the fandom? How about the One Fandom to Rule Them All, One Fandom to Find Them … oops. Wrong trilogy.

Please stop throwing things at your screen, Star Wars fans. We were just trying to rile you up and see if you could control your anger, young Padawan. (Guess not.)

Here's the deal: Star Wars is one of the most recognizable franchises in American pop culture, and as such, it has legions of fans. Old fans. Young fans. Nerdy fans. Fans who aren't nerds but call themselves nerds because they think it sounds cute.

No, scratch that, because the word "fan" doesn't quite describe the people who consider themselves Star Wars aficionados. Let's call them "devotees." Because the people who really, truly love Star Wars don't just love the films, they love the whole world that George Lucas created.

There are comic books, novels, graphic novels, and animated series that have evolved out of the original trilogy, creating a fantasy world that is so complex, some people have devoted their lives to studying everything about the Galactic Empire.

There's even an entire Wikipedia-verse called Wookieepedia, which deals in all things Star Wars.Only a select few people can keep all of the different planets straight, with their various inhabitants and unique geographical features. And, let's not even get into the different theories involving what "the Force" actually is. (Apparently, if you mention "midi-chlorians" to a Star Wars devotee, they're likely to dump a plastic container of blue milk over your head.)

With such a pervasive effect on American pop culture, Star Wars fans are everywhere. The show "How I Met Your Mother" had a whole episode devoted to the theory that your age could be determined by whether or not you liked the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. Step Brothers, the hilarious film with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, had a running gag about the quality of Chewbacca masks. And, you can hardly forget the movie Spaceballs, an entire film parodying the trilogy in classic Mel Brooks fashion.

Basically, Star Wars is so well known, we dare you to try and find someone who doesn't understand the meaning of "may the Force be with you."

Some people have been known to take their fandom to some pretty amazing extremes. According to the documentary Jedi Junkies, there are entire martial arts academies dedicated to the art of dueling with lightsabers, metal bikini-wearing dancers who make their living paying homage to Princess Leia, and even a private filmmaker who built the world's only life-size Millennium Falcon.

Fandoms? Please. Fandoms are small potatoes. What Star Wars inspires is a kind of (awesome) obsession. To give you an example: people start lining up outside Walmart on Black Friday at around 3 a.m.—only a few hours before the store opens.

Star Wars fans? They were lining up outside theaters 12 days before The Force Awakens awoke. (Source)